After a 15 year old sophomore accused a Forest Hills Central High School varsity basketball player of assaulting her in an empty band room, the torture began. Her entire school began to turn on her. Others would jeer and poke fun at her, yelling for her to “go home.” Those loyal to the athlete that was charged of assaulting her continued to harass and attack her online months after the incident occurred.
This victim has recently opened a lawsuit against the school district, its superintendent and two other school administrators who she says “failed to properly investigate allegations that she was sexually assaulted at school by a prominent athlete” and that they “ignored her claims of harassment that ultimately left her to leave school.”
With the cyberbullying that occurred, anonymous students, on Formspring, posted mean comments and posts about her. Others posted deragoratory and vulgar messages on her wall and delivered messages to her that was not only derogatory, but also threatening.
According to this sophomore and her parents, despite having called the school many times about this incident, the school district did nothing to help her. Her grades began to slip. She began to skip class. She stayed in a school office to do her work instead of going to class. The school did not take any effort to limit contact between this sophomore and her assailant.
This lawsuit was built to change the ways schools take responsibility for cyberbullying. Schools should be held liable for their students, especially if they have been notified of it.